Building Stori | Head Personal Branding & Content Marketing | Personal Branding Strategist | Managing Brands & People

I’m a marketing strategist with 4+ years of experience working across personal branding, influencer marketing, content strategy, and creator-led storytelling.
I’ve worked closely with coaches, founders, and creators - helping them shape narratives, build personal brands from the inside out, and show up online with clarity and confidence.

Over the years, I’ve interacted with countless influencers and digital creators, understanding deeply what drives visibility, trust, and audience loyalty.
This experience has shaped the way I approach marketing:
not as a loud performance, but as a human conversation.

For the past two years, I’ve also been building and strategising a newsletter from scratch.
A big part of this work involves researching how real people communicate - digging into Reddit threads, analysing LinkedIn posts, studying creator patterns, and speaking to people who show up authentically online.
From all these insights, we create simple, actionable prompts that make personal branding feel less intimidating and more accessible.

And then there’s my other identity - the writer.
For the last 1.5 years, I’ve been working quietly on my personal blog, where I talk about emotions, womanhood, the things we internalise, and the feelings we rarely articulate.
It’s where I’ve discovered that sharing honestly creates space for others to say, “I feel that too.”

My work is strategy.
My writing is honesty.
My brand is a blend of both.

If you’re someone who values storytelling, authenticity, emotional depth, and marketing that feels human - we’re speaking the same language.

Some ideas don’t start with a business plan. They start with a conversation that stays with you.

For me, Hero Theory began the day my boss told me something I didn’t fully understand then, but I carry with me now- “In any business, your value matters more than the money you make.”

He wasn’t talking about working extra hours or proving loyalty.

He meant creating something that genuinely helps people.

Something that makes their path easier.

Something that removes friction instead of adding more to it.

That thought stayed in the back of my mind for months.

Around that time, we were working closely with coaches and founders.

We had long conversations with them, trying to understand what stops them from building a personal brand, even though they want to.

And the reasons were the same every time:
• They don’t have the time
 • They don’t have the money to invest heavily
 • They don’t know where to begin, or how to stay consistent

Personal branding is powerful, but let’s be honest it’s expensive. When the average support ranges from 1,000 to 4,000 pounds, a lot of smart, capable, talented people simply can’t access it.

And it didn’t sit right with us that visibility was becoming a privilege, not an opportunity.

During one of our brainstorming sessions last year, we finally said it out loud - What if we remove the cost barrier completely?
 
What if we create something free, accessible and genuinely valuable for people who want to show up but can’t afford the traditional route?

That was the spark.

At first, we imagined sending weekly PDFs.

Then bi-weekly breakdowns.

Then monthly insights.

But the more we talked, the clearer it became this needed to be something consistent, evolving, practical and alive.

Something people could actually use, not just read.

And that’s how the idea shaped itself into a newsletter - the foundation of what Hero Theory is today.

A space where we - 
• break down what actually works online
 • study real struggles founders and coaches have
 • turn our research into clear, doable prompts
 • teach the “how,” “what,” and “why” of personal branding
 • help people who don’t have time, a team or a budget still show up confidently

No paywalls.

No upsell traps.

No gatekeeping.

Just value — in its simplest and most honest form.

Hero Theory didn’t start as a business idea.

It started as a responsibility.
 
A belief that if people have something meaningful to share, they shouldn’t be held back by resources.

PS: This photo was taken during one of our earliest brainstorming sessions for Hero Theory and yes, I was also busy enjoying some of the most delicious food I found in Berlin. Because great ideas and great meals always go well together.

Shivi Jalota

Hero Theory

I talk marketing for work and emotions for life. If it’s honest, human, or hard to say - I write about it.

Lately I’ve been thinking about something that shows up quietly in both life and leadership - learning to tell the difference between loneliness and healthy solitude.

It’s funny how you can be sitting with your morning coffee, reading something peacefully, and suddenly your mind asks, “Why is it so quiet? Is this calm… or am I disconnected?”

Most of the time, it’s neither.
It’s simply what life feels like when you’re no longer running on emotional chaos. 

And this shift I think wasn't just personal.
It showed up in the way I work as well.

For years, a lot of us (and I) were conditioned to believe that:
• Constant notifications meant we were relevant
• Overworking meant we were committed
• Being available 24/7 meant we were good leaders
• Stress meant productivity
• Chaos meant progress

And so when life finally became steady, and when I stopped chasing approval or validation, it actually felt uncomfortable.
Peace feels strange until you’ve lived in it long enough to trust it.

I believe in leadership, this same thing happens.
- You stop reacting to every message as if it’s urgent.
- You stop stretching your boundaries just to avoid disappointing people.
- You stop tying your confidence to whether someone approves of your work.
- You stop confusing burnout with being hardworking.
- You stop holding on to relationships that drain more energy than they ever give back.

And suddenly the quiet feels less like something is missing and more like everything is stabilising.

I think this is the part of growth we don’t talk about enough.

As we evolve, our tolerance for emotional and workplace chaos naturally goes down.

You no longer accept:
• The bare minimum
• Vague communication
• Unclear expectations
• Leaders who mistake urgency for importance
• Teams who think being busy is the same as being effective
• Relationships, both personal and professional, that require you to shrink yourself to keep the peace

Because once you experience clarity, chaos stops feeling exciting. It stops having power over you.

Sometimes that quiet is actually a sign of- 
• Stronger boundaries
• Better decisions
• Emotional growth
• Healthier work dynamics
• Leadership that comes from steadiness instead of reaction
• A life where your value is no longer up for debate

The older I get, the more I understand this - You can want connection and still choose clarity. You can care deeply and still hold boundaries.
 
You can lead with empathy and still say “this isn’t working for me anymore.”

You can collaborate openly and still protect your energy.

And whether it is a colleague, a friend, a partner, or a manager, the standard becomes simple - 
- Clear effort.
- Clear communication.
- Clear respect.

Not because we are demanding something extra.

But because we finally understand the cost of abandoning ourselves, in work or in life.

I work with different creators and one of the things that I have observed is  - We’re not dealing with a “talent gap” what we’re dealing with is a "professionalism gap."

Two creators.
 Same niche.
 Same follower count.
 Same engagement rate.
 Completely different worlds when it comes to how they operate.

One replies within 20 minutes with a proper media kit, updated analytics, clear pricing, timelines, past work - basically everything you need to close a deal in an hour.

The other replies after five days with, “Hey, still figuring out my rates,” while I’m still chasing them for their engagement numbers and previous campaign results.

After running influencer campaigns for a few years now, the pattern repeats every single time.

And honestly, it explains a lot.

Some creators are fully booked for months because they treat this like a business.
 
The others struggle because they treat it like a hobby that should magically pay.

But the thing is - Brands don’t chase the biggest names. They chase the least stressful partnerships.

They want creators who:
• Are organised
 • Communicates clearly
 • Understand their audience
 • Know their value
 • Deliver on time
 • Don’t need hand-holding

I’ve had mid-sized creators seal a campaign in 48 hours purely because they were prepared.

And I’ve watched larger creators lose opportunities because they didn’t know their own numbers.

The split is getting wider fast. One side is levelling up.

The other is hoping vibes and virality will compensate for poor communication.

At this point, you can often predict how a partnership will go from the very first email.

I’m curious - are you noticing this divide too? Or is it just the nature of a growing industry finally maturing?

PS: This photo was taken in Prague last year. Since I could work from anywhere, I ended up working from this café but not before trying their authentic beer :))

I work with a team spread across in the UK and India, and most of our collaboration happens virtually. 

Weekly calls. Shared documents. Slack threads. Project updates.

A very standard hybrid setup.

And I’ll be honest - on paper, working from home suits me.

I’m single, I don’t have kids, and outside of paying my bills and running my life, I don’t have the kind of responsibilities that require me to constantly juggle home and work.

So technically, I can give 12 hours to work.

I can show up at odd hours. I can stretch myself without it clashing with childcare, school runs or a partner’s schedule.

But even with all that convenience, there’s a part of me that quietly struggles with the “virtual first” way of working.

Because I’ve noticed something about myself - Whenever we meet in person - even if it’s just once or twice a year - something shifts.
 
There’s an energy, a speed, a flow, a clarity that only happens when humans sit together, think together, argue together, brainstorm together.

Those 20–25 days of being in the same room feel more productive than months of virtual calls.

And it makes me realise something I didn’t want to admit out loud earlier - Working from home is comfortable but sometimes the comfort comes at the expense of connection.

I’ve had conversations with so many people who say WFH has changed their lives for the better, and I truly believe them.

Especially people with families, kids, ageing parents, responsibilities- the kind that don’t show up on your calendar but shape your entire day.

For them, WFH isn’t a convenience.

It’s survival. It’s sanity. It’s access to a career without sacrificing their life.

But even without those responsibilities, I sometimes feel the emotional toll of being behind a screen every day.

The blurred lines. The never-ending availability. The quiet guilt that says, “If I’m home, I should be working.”

The 10-second “good morning” replacing what used to be an entire team walking in together.

The feeling that conversations which would take 3 minutes in an office now take 3 tools and 3 follow-ups.

It’s made me wonder whether we’re all having the wrong debate.

Maybe it’s not WFH vs Office.
Maybe it’s not productivity vs freedom.

Maybe it’s simply this- 
- Where do you feel most human while working?
- Where do you feel most connected?
- Where do you feel least alone in the responsibilities you carry?

For some, that place is home. For others, it’s an office. For many, it’s something in between.

I’m still figuring out where I fall on that spectrum.

But I do know the days I get to work around people, even for a few weeks, remind me how much of our productivity is tied to the softness of human connection.

And that’s something no tool or time zone alignment can replace.

PS: This photo was taken after a full day of meetings at 9 pm Dubai time this January. And yes, I look very happy because great food and even better conversations were waiting.

I recently discovered two apps I had never heard of "ChatBling" and "AirTalk"-  thanks to my 22-year-old sister. 

On the surface, they’re positioned as anonymous chat platforms. But underneath, they’re something much bigger and more unsettling - A reflection of how lonely our world has quietly become.

These apps are built on a simple insight - people are craving connection more than ever, but they’re also more isolated than ever.

And companies have figured out how to turn that into a business model.

The more disconnected we feel in real life,the more likely we are to seek quick, low-stakes digital interactions. 

And the more time we spend on these platforms - the more money they make through:
 •subscriptions
 •microtransactions
 •premium features
 •data harvesting
 •engagement-based revenue
 •selling our attention back to advertisers

Basically loneliness has become a digital asset. And the lonelier we are, the more profitable the system becomes.

We don’t talk about this enough but for years, we believed technology would bring us closer. And in many ways, it has.

But the truth is more complicated:
- We have more ways to connect than ever
- Yet fewer meaningful connections
-  More notifications
- Yet fewer real conversations
- More digital communities
 - Yet more emotional distance

And in that gap between connection and disconnection entire industries have emerged. 

Apps are now designed around:
- keeping us online
- tracking our behaviours
- capturing our attention
- analysing our emotional patterns
- commodifying our data
 - predicting what will keep us engaged longest

Not because they want us to feel supported. But because attention is currency.

And loneliness is incredibly sticky.

When people feel isolated, they scroll more. When they scroll more, companies profit more. When companies profit more, the cycle continues.

It’s a quietly dystopian loop.

But the bigger human insight is that most of us aren’t going online because we’re bored.
 
We’re going online because we want to feel something - seen, heard, valued, acknowledged.

Validation is not superficial. It’s human.

And the fact that entire galaxy of apps now exist to fill that emotional gap tells us more about society than it does about technology.

And so maybe the real conversation we need to have is this - If digital platforms are banking on our loneliness, what are we doing in our real lives  and workplaces to reduce it?

Corporate toxicity hits different - mostly because nobody warns you that the villains at work don’t slam doors - well they smile.

And if you’ve watched The Morning Show (Jennifer Aniston + Reese Witherspoon at their sharpest), you know exactly what I mean.

It captures that quiet, suffocating version of workplace toxicity we’ve all seen up close - the politics, the performative niceness, the opportunistic alliances, the “I’m on your side”… until you’re not useful anymore.

But the part no one told me in my early 20s was - Toxic people at work aren’t always bad people. But they can still drain the life out of you if you’re not paying attention.

Personal toxicity is loud. Emotional. Messy.
Corporate toxicity is… subtle.

It shows up in:
– colleagues who hype you up in public and envy you in private
 – managers who love your ideas until they become threatened by your growth
 – coworkers who pretend to mentor you but quietly gatekeep opportunities
 – “friends” at work who suddenly switch teams when you start doing well

And sometimes you unknowingly become toxic in someone else’s career story - not because you’re malicious, but because corporate environments turn everyone into accidental competitors.

I’ve worked retail jobs, student jobs, agency jobs, and now full-time corporate roles. 

Across all of it, one pattern stays the same - People often bring the worst out of each other when the environment rewards silence, survival and strategic pretending.

We don’t talk about this enough as women in the workforce.

We’re told to “be nice,” “stay grateful,” “avoid drama,” “keep your head down,” “don’t make it a thing,” “don’t rock the boat.”

Meanwhile, the boat is literally on fire.

When you’re doing well, you start noticing things - the shift in tone, the sudden distance, the subtle undercutting, the “Why her?” energy from people who called you their “work bestie.”

Corporate toxicity doesn’t always show up as conflict.
 
Sometimes it shows up as jealousy, resentment, passive aggression, strategic incompetence, emotional manipulation and career gatekeeping.

And it’s wild how normalized it is. We call it “office politics” so we don’t have to call it what it is.

But here’s what I’ve learned:
- Some people can be wonderful humans and terrible colleagues.
- You can care about someone and still not thrive around them.
- You don’t have to absorb someone else’s insecurity as your burden.
- You can love people from afar while protecting your peace up close.

Corporate toxicity is not always avoidable, but it is noticeable - once you stop gaslighting yourself into “maybe I’m overreacting.”

Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do for your career, your mental health and your growth is simply this:

Get out.
Or step back.
Or stop giving them access to the parts of you they’ve weaponized before.

Your peace is not a luxury.
It’s a leadership skill.

And it’s time workplaces stopped normalizing environments that crush that.

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